Daniel and the Fiery Furnace (2026) EKKL Entertainment/Drama RT: 108 minutes Rated PG-13 (strong violence/bloody images) Director: Daniel and Matthew Kooman Screenplay: Matthew Kooman Music: Tyler Michael Smith Cinematography: Supratim Bhol Release date: September 18, 2026 (US) Cast: Mena Massoud, Roberto Zenca, Sophia Decaro, Sunjay Midda, Adam Lahraoui, Zaki Ali, Elijah Alexander, Zachary Coffin.
Rating: * ½
With Angel Studios shifting its focus to more secular entertainment (e.g. last week’s actioner Runner, next month’s western remake Angel and the Badman), somebody had to pick up the slack. Enter EKKL Entertainment, a new faith-based outfit that began operations earlier this year. They appear determined to be the new Angel with an almost identical business model. Their first big release, the Biblical drama Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, closes with a plea for donations during the end credits. I actually saw audience members scanning the QR code on my way out. Just like with Angel, I have questions about where the money really goes, but I kept my mouth shut. What good would it have done anyway?
Apparently, EKKL has two other films to their credit, neither of which I saw. I never even heard of She Dances (it opened in March) and Elijah Peel (an August release) didn’t open at my local AMC. Daniel and the Fiery Furnace is my first EKKL experience. It wasn’t a positive one. It’s the kind of cheap, low-budget religious film that gets shown on Movie Night at churches. It’s poorly made, badly acted and emotionally flat. It’s about as interesting as a lesson by a Sunday school teacher who stopped trying years ago. It lays there lifeless for 108 minutes, occasionally writhing or twitching, before it finally puts itself out of our misery.
Ah, here’s another first for me. It’s directed by brothers Daniel and Matthew Kooman. I’ve never heard of them nor seen anything by them. Judging by Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, it sounds like I’m not missing much. You know, maybe I shouldn’t be too harsh on the guys. After all, they raised the money themselves to make their dream project a reality. You can do only so much with $1.8M. That may explain why I didn’t see any advertising on it in the weeks leading up to its release. I didn’t even hear about it until it showed up on the schedule at my local AMC. ANYWAY, I give the Koomans credit for realizing their dream. They just don’t have the filmmaking skills to back it up.
Obviously, Daniel and the Fiery Furnace tells the story of Daniel, the Biblical figure famous for surviving a night in the lions’ den after violating the king’s law about praying to any god other than the false idol he makes his subjects worship. Although there are lions in the movie, the story about the lions’ den is not. Instead, we’re subjected to a story about a young man holding onto his faith no matter what life throws at him. But maybe I should start at the beginning.
Daniel, played by Mena Massoud of the live-action Aladdin, is taken from his home in Judah to Babylon where King Nebuchadnezzar (Alexander, The Chosen) takes a liking to the young man. An interpreter of dreams, he foresaw the fall of Judah, but the king (Coffin) refused to heed his warning. He’s made an advisor to his new king, but only accepts the position on the condition that he and his brothers are allowed to worship their own way. Time and time again, he’s tested. Time and time again, he passes.
So what’s this about a fiery furnace? For the benefit of those not forced to attend Sunday school, here’s a brief summary. For the crime of not bowing to a large golden statue commanded by the king, Daniel’s closest friends Shadrach (Midda), Meshach (Lahraoui) and Abednego (Ali) are sentenced to be burned to death in a large fiery furnace. Only it doesn’t kill them. The flames don’t even singe them. They’re protected by God because of the strength of their faith. Nebuchadnezzar witnesses it himself.
I have nothing against Biblical dramas. I’ve liked quite a few like The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur (1959), King David (1985) and Noah (2014). I’ve also disliked a few like Samson (2018), Paul, Apostle of Christ (2018) and His Only Son (2023). What separates the wheat from the chaff is whether the movie brings the story to life or just goes through the motions. Daniel and the Fiery Furnace does the latter and does it shoddily. It looks cheap. The CGI is terrible. I haven’t seen such fake-looking animals since Jumanji. The furnace scene isn’t at all convincing. If the Koomans are going for epic, they fail in every imaginable way.
I can say one nice thing about Daniel and the Fiery Furnace and it’s probably not what the filmmakers would like to hear. For me, the movie’s one saving grace is the campy, OTT performance by Alexander as Nebuchadnezzar. He’s a hoot! He overacts shamelessly and wears more makeup than a 70s glitter rock singer. He makes Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie look conservative by comparison. The rest of the acting is just awful with top dishonors going to Massoud. He’s no more than a pretty face. A plastic mannequin would have turned in the exact same performance. The same can be said for the three actors playing his friends. They’re about as lively as statues. When they stand together, they look like gay models waiting to be picked for a gig. It’s ridiculous.
The writing by Matthew K. isn’t any good either. The story is told in flashback by a fellow listed in the credits as “Mysterious Man”. Who he’s revealed to be at the end will come as a shock and I don’t mean in a good way. The dialogue is particularly bad. In an early scene, one of Daniel’s friends delivers a monologue in which he name-checks other Biblical figures like Moses, David and Job. Did he get a sneak peek at an early draft of the Bible? Scenes like these and a few more had me shaking my head in disbelief.
I stop short of calling Daniel and the Fiery Furnace a disaster of Biblical proportions, but it’s still pretty bad. I’m probably going to get roasted by religious people for this scathing review, but is it not a sin to bear false witness. I’d be lying if I said Daniel and the Fiery Furnace is worth seeing. I’m sure the makers had good intentions, but you know what they say about those.
